


fairy of shampoo

by atannatek



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: College, Friendship, M/M, Music, Superpowers, Writers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:55:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24966328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atannatek/pseuds/atannatek
Summary: wonpil and jae wake up one morning realizing that they have superpowers.(though the concept of 'superpower' is probably not the one expected).
Relationships: Kim Wonpil/Park Jaehyung | Jae
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	1. who's the fairy of shampoo?

**Author's Note:**

> yes, wonpil and jae have superpowers in this story.  
> no, the fact that they have superpowers is not the main idea of it. you'll understand it when you read this (i hope that).
> 
> this idea came up to me one night when i couldn't sleep and i was thinking on my own problems i had before entering to college. those were kind of bad times for me, so i thought that maybe writing about them was a bit useful. 
> 
> \- you can find other aus (threadfics and social media) in my twitter acc: [@dowoonbubbles](https://twitter.com/dowoonbubbles)

“I’M WRITING A NEW STORY.”

Jae stops looking at his laptop’s screen to focus on Wonpil. He’s sitting on the border of his bed, playing with a pen he surely took from Jae’s desk. His game is simple enough for Jae to understand what it’s about without even having to ask: Wonpil throws the pen into the air, squints towards it causing the pen to remain suspended for an extra second than the normal amount, and then the pen falls to the floor.

There’re already three other pens somewhere around Jae’s room. Wonpil isn’t picking them up.

(If Jae mentions that detail, Wonpil would probably just squint towards them again and try to lift them up with that gesture, or he would ask Jae instead to do it himself because according to Wonpil, Jae isn’t practicing at all and that's bad).

(And Jae, just as every time Wonpil uses that argument, would reply with the usual: ‘well, I’m sorry but one of my teachers hates us and I have lots of homework for summer?’).

Wonpil likes to do that a lot now—not the part of teasing Jae, as Jae has in fact gotten used to it considering they’ve been neighbors as far as they can recall—. No, Wonpil’s new habit is too different from that: he now likes to throw things and to show Jae how he can avoid for them to fall.

He also likes to call himself an amateur superhero.

(And every time he does that, Jae calls him a professional idiot—he can barely manipulate some small objects by squinting at them, he isn’t saving anyone’s life yet).  
(And Wonpil would laugh at that, and call Jae a professional worst best friend then).

(He would also say he’s not planning in becoming a real superhero soon. Apparently, superheroes don’t have enough time like to attend Business College, write stories when there’s the chance to do it so because they in fact hate Business College but are meant to study a ‘real career’ to not become some sort of family disappointment, and also save lives).

Wonpil throws a pen at his direction this time. Jae can barely blink before it hits him in the head. 

“I said that I started writing a new story” he repeats, frowning. “Also, you could have avoided that, hyung. It was an easy one.”

Jae pretends he didn’t listen to the last part. He isn’t that sure as Wonpil about if he could have stopped the pen on time, but he’s certainly not in the mood for his nose to start bleeding and his head to ache, so he didn’t even planned on trying. 

“You already finished the other one about the wind spirit who falls in love with that girl that was born to be a sacrifice?” Jae finally speaks. Wonpil hums, moving on the bed until he’s sitting next to him and grabs the pen that has fallen near Jae. He tries to peak on his laptop, but as soon as he notices Jae’s working on an essay, he returns his attention to the pen.

Wonpil throws the pen up, right above their heads. He follows it with his eyes, squinting again. He whines when the pen remains an extra second on the air than what it did before. Wonpil asks him if he saw that, and Jae nods at it even if he was staring at Wonpil instead.

Wonpil seems fine, even grinning a little. Jae wonders if something is wrong with himself to suffer those headaches and nosebleeds when Wonpil seems just fine.

“I left that on pause for now” Wonpil replies, returning to their conversation as if it hadn’t been interrupted by him with his whole trick demonstration. Wonpil usually does that. Jae’s explanation for it it’s that he has too many words inside his head, so he keeps saying random sentences and making Jae participate in at least two conversations at the same time. Wonpil likes the comparison—he’s told Jae it fits for a writer (Wonpil also called it cute, but Jae had scowled at that). “It’s too sad… I already explain you how’s gonna end, right?”

Jae types an out of place sentence in the Word document he’s been working in the past two hours. “He returns back to his sleep when he discovers that the girl is dead because of him” he says. “And everyone on Earth dies because there’s no air to breath.”

Wonpil smiles because Jae remembers it. 

He is also probably smiling because he’s decided to look back at Jae’s screen just in time to read what he wrote in the middle of his essay.

Right there, down a paragraph talking about the Great Depression, there’s a simple sentence written in italics and capitals (or rather a question…? Jae hadn’t specifically added a question mark because he thinks it shouldn’t be a question. It’s more something like pleading for mercy): WHO THE FUCK HAS TOO MANY HOMEWORK FOR SUMMER.

Jae should probably add an exclamation point—he does exactly that. Wonpil is giggling with the change.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Wonpil claims. Jae raises a brow, confused as to which conversation is he being lead to, “It’s too sad and we’re on summer! I’m not supposed to write sad things on summer.”

He’s talking about his story. Right.

“You can write sad things whenever you feel like it—”

“Not on summer!” Wonpil interrupts him. “You come home only on summer. I can’t be sad if you’re here!”

Jae types another thing in the document. Wonpil groans, hitting him playfully in the shoulder because of it.

“Next year you’d go to college too” Jae decides to say out loud. “We would see each other at the campus and not only on holidays.”

Wonpil frowns at the mention of college. He snorts, lying completely over his back on the bed this time. For his new angle of vision, Jae finally notices the drawing on Wonpil’s shirt. It’s the white colored silhouette of a bathtub with the words ‘WE RAN OUT OF SHAMPOO! SOMEONE CALL THE FAIRY OF SHAMPOO!’ floating around it. Jae thinks he’s heard a song with that name. He wonders if that’s the reason why Wonpil wears it. He hadn’t seen him using it before; he must have bought it recently.

“Don’t you want to know what my new story is about?” Wonpil asks. Jae didn’t really imagine he’d follow the college conversation. He’s good at avoiding it. Last time Jae tried to bring it up, Wonpil had told him he loved him all out of the blue. Jae was far too flustered after that like to even speak, even if he was aware Wonpil only meant those feelings as the ones of a friendship. It was still weird having that phrase addressed to him with such an ease.

Actually, Wonpil makes lots of things to look easy. He can be throwing pens and playing with them without getting a headache or his nose starting to bleed, while that was only possible for Jae during the first days after everything started, and it’s already been a month since it. Wonpil can also say at least a seventy percent of the things that are in his mind without getting too embarrassed or start stuttering around others (Jae’s calculations are not a complete joke regarding that—he really things that seven out of ten things Wonpil thinks are known for the rest because he decides to express them; more than the half and certainly more than the average said by others, but with another proper percentage to keep his own secrets).

(Or maybe Jae just feels it like that because he and Wonpil are that close, and there’re only a few things they don’t know about the other).

Jae closes his laptop. He wasn’t thinking on his essay anymore, and he still has a whole day to finish it anyways. “I’m listening, Wonpil-ah.”

Wonpil smiles. He throws the pen to the air. This time, he also raises a hand on its direction.

Jae has to admit that adds a dramatic effect to what he’s doing. 

When the pen falls, Wonpil says: “The story is about a guy whose friend has superpowers after a weird storm.”

Jae snorts loudly and Wonpil chuckles at his reaction. 

“A hero story” Jae decides to name it, because he’s not using the term autobiography for it.

“No” Wonpil frowns. “The guy, the main character, is not a hero” he clarifies. “His friend is. He’s just normal. It’s supposed to be boring at the beginning, but then you discover that having powers doesn’t make you a main character because we’re all main characters in our own way.”

Wonpil seems excited. He’s always like this when he tells Jae about what he’s writing about. 

(And Wonpil is always writing new things, barely having completed a few of his works, so Jae gets to be part of that kind of conversations very often. Though certainly, seeing him while he talks about it it’s ten times better than just listening to him through the phone like it has happened since he started college two years ago).

Jae nods, “That’s deep. I like it.”

“I knew you would” Wonpil’s amused for his reaction. He raises a brow, looking at him, “The guy with powers and his friend, kinda similar to some persons we know, uh?”

Jae scowls, “Did you forget that I also have them?”

Them—just them, nothing else. He’s not calling them ‘powers’ out loud like Wonpil does or the people on the internet forums where they had looked for information when all of that began to happen. He isn’t either acting like if one day waking up after the night when a storm took place on the city and discovering he could move things with his mind if he focused enough in the action, was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

Wonpil isn’t doing the last either. He’s always said the best thing that had happened to him is meeting Jae.

(And Jae gets flustered at that too, and of course he’s never told the same thing to Wonpil because he’s simply too flustered like to speak on those moments).

“But you admitted you don’t use your powers anymore!” Wonpil accuses him.

“I don’t” Jae agrees with him, cringing by his choice of the term. Powers—it’s fucking weird. He leaves his laptop over his stomach so he can also lie down next to Wonpil in the bed. The bed is too small for two persons, so their shoulders are touching. “It’s not as natural for me as it is for you.”

“It isn’t easy for me either” he mumbles. Jae is about to ask him again if he’s ever gotten headaches or a bloody running nose for using them, but Wonpil keeps talking: “I had to practice a lot to get the pen thing. And it’s just a pen! It’s too small.”

Jae grins. He doesn’t realize Wonpil can’t see the gesture because their position, “It’s an improvement after the paper clips thing.”

Wonpil squirms. The movement causes his hand to now touch Jae’s too. Wonpil’s hand is too warm. It’s always been like that since the storm, “Those are my dark origins” he says, the squeal even present in his voice. “The main character is going to have bad eyesight and wear glasses, by the way” Wonpil suddenly adds. That’s his second conversation for the moment. “Like you, hyung.”

He’s looking at him right now. They’re so close that Jae easily feels the shift in his body position. If Jae moves his head just like Wonpil did, their faces would be so, so close…

Jae stares at the ceiling. The fan is working. Jae wonders if he can make it stop like he did many nights ago, right after the storm.

He copies Wonpil’s gesture, squinting at it. The headache comes quickly, but nothing changes. 

He controls a sigh. Jae would think he’s lost them if it wasn’t for the fact that when he notices Wonpil throwing once more the pen in his direction, Jae’s able to make it stop and it falls over his chest instead. Wonpil laughs at that. Jae’s head hurts. Wonpil asks him to repeat it. Jae answers a straight no.

He wonders if Wonpil can make the fan stop right now. He had also done it before, when they were lying in the same spot and told each other about the weird things that had happened the morning after the storm.

(Jae was the one who suggested an internet search to try to understand what was going on—but they barely found any news, and it was all more about strange theories that people shared on forums, so that didn’t help them at all and they simply decided to keep the secret between the two).

“If you’re writing about that” Jae begins to say—that; just that and nothing else. He’s not calling the whole event of ‘fuck, we woke up one morning and now we have strange abilities?’ any other way. Even a month later, it feels weird to talk about it. Jae was supposed to have a normal free weekend at his home, celebrating his sister’s birthday, not suddenly discovering that he and his best friend could stop fans with their mind. “Why don’t you use yourself as a main character?” Wonpil asks him what he means with that. “Why don’t you tell the story of the superhero friend? It’d be more interesting for you, right?” Jae explains him. “After all, you love having them.”

Jae is right. Wonpil mentions them a lot and it’s only been a month.

Wonpil hums. He’s once again with his face up to the ceiling, like Jae. He throws the pen to the fan’s direction. It hits one of the fan blades, causing it to rebound back to them. Wonpil stops it before it hits them, making the pen fall over the mattress.

“I think we should practice more” he says, returning to their old topic. “We’re still not good at it.”

It’s summer—Jae doesn’t want to go around shoving things in the air and getting a headache in an attempt to catch them. Jae doesn’t even want to think he has them because before them his life was already good and he doesn’t need them at all. Luckily, they’ve become easier to ignore and now Jae doesn’t go through his dorm moving things accidentally and making his roommate mad because he couldn’t find whatever notebook that Jae changed from its place without noticing it.

And sometimes, it really is as if he didn’t have them anymore. Jae has a theory about it—he thinks they are fading away, and that eventually, they are going to be gone forever, so he just has to endure it for now and do his best pretending they’re not there. 

Except that he can’t do that when he’s with Wonpil.

Wonpil, who is excited about them, and who keeps using the term of ‘amateur superhero’ and throwing pens to show Jae how much he has improved since the last time they saw each other.

“We can try tomorrow after I finish the essay” Jae mumbles. He isn’t glancing at Wonpil, but he’s surely smiling. “I don’t promise you I won’t give up after the first five minutes, though.”

Wonpil passes one of his arms over Jae’s chest, hugging him. “I love you, hyung!” he claims, and the short sentence has Jae flushing. He doesn’t say anything after that, only listening to Wonpil rambling about his new story and some scenes he has in mind for them to happen.

Jae wonders if Wonpil is aware of the effect that phrase has on him. As far as Jae can remember it, he’s only said it twice, after all.

JAE IS LOOKING AT WONPIL, “You’re wearing it again” he says, pointing his shirt. “Do you even know the song?”

Wonpil’s glance goes from the opened book over the kitchen counter to Jae, who is sitting over it. He was pretending to read other of the books Wonpil had brought for their practice, but it wasn’t easy to concentrate on it when Wonpil kept whining about not being able to flip a page.

Jae had been wrong about it—he last almost seven minutes staring at the book Wonpil was now using, trying to do the same trick of flipping a page and enduring the headache that came with it just for the simple satisfaction of listening a very excited Wonpil cheering him. Jae had only decided to stop when he became aware that the nosebleed was the next step.

Wonpil had screamed the first time he saw Jae having a nosebleed for trying to use them, the same weekend when they got them. Jae promised him it had been a one occasion incident and there was nothing he should worry about.

That had been the only time Wonpil had witnessed it, though. The other times, luckily, Jae had been alone in his dorm.

It doesn’t matter anyways—Jae stopped trying to use them when he got to the conclusion that the pain wasn’t worthy.

“There’s a song about it?” Wonpil frowns at his words, “I just liked it!”

“I don’t know if there’s a song, I only think there is” Jae admits. “But I thought you’d know about it considering it’s sort of your favorite shirt now.”

Wonpil rolls his eyes. The page doesn’t move.

“I’ve worn it twice. That doesn’t make it my favorite shirt.”

“Twice in two days.”

“That’s still twice.”

Now Jae is the one who rolls his eyes, “We should probably look up if there’s a song with the name.”

Wonpil isn’t looking at him anymore. His attention is on the book again. He squints at it for some seconds, his cheeks turning slightly red… There’s a sudden movement in one of the corners of the current page. He cries out of joy and gets closer to where Jae is, carrying the book in his hand to demonstrate how there’s now a small mark on the corner where the page was forced to be folded.

Jae congratulates him. Wonpil is happy because of that.

“If it ends up not being a song” Wonpil says, focusing on the book, “maybe you should write one. It could be a nice title.”

Jae tenses at the comment.

“I don’t do that anymore” Jae sighs. He’s not good avoiding topics, not like Wonpil, at least.

Wonpil pouts. He climbs over the counter and sits over it with his legs hanging to the opposite side where Jae’s are. Jae can’t properly see his face because of it.

“I finished the first chapter yesterday” he tells him. “Or well… Today. I didn’t sleep that much to finish it. Daeun woke me up early anyways because I had promised to play with her.”

“How is it going?” Jae questions calmly. His grip over the book tightens.

He’s glad Wonpil decided to swerve the direction of the conversation.

“My main character is blond” he informs him. Jae can’t see him, but he feels a smile in his words. It’s strange how he considers a more interesting ability to recognize certain details on Wonpil than being able to sometimes move small objects.

Jae huffs, “Like me?”

“You dye your hair” Wonpil remembers him. And oh, he’s surely grinning because of that. “He’s naturally blond. He’s also really tall. Taller than you.”

Jae chuckles, “I’m charging you for using me for your book.”

“Don’t say book” Wonpil whines. “It feels weird.”

Jae moves his body back on the counter a little. The position is uncomfortable considering his legs are mostly over the counter and he can’t bend them, but he can now look at Wonpil at the eyes. “But that’s what you’re doing, right? Writing a book?”

“I’m writing a story” Wonpil corrects him. “And it’s not about you.”

There’s silence. Jae doesn’t understand the difference between the two terms, so he remains quiet.

“My main character is studying music” Wonpil decides to add, hesitant. Jae’s grab over the book tightens stronger than last time. “His favorite class is music composition. I did copy that part from you.”

There’s silence again. This time, Jae simply doesn’t want to say anything.

DAEUN ASKS THEM WHAT THEY’RE DOING when she enters to Wonpil’s room and finds them lying on the floor, both of them using their elbows to support the upper part of their body and having their legs stretched, with Wonpil’s laptop in front of them.

It’s too early like to turn on the AC yet but the room already feels warm, that’s why they’re in the floor—the floor is cold. Wonpil’s bed is too warm also. But Daeun is not asking about that, gesturing towards the laptop and quickly trying to make a spot for her between them.

“We’re seeing a video” Wonpil replies, and he moves the laptop so Daeun can see it too from her position. He restarts the video so she can see it from the start too.

Daeun wrinkles her nose as soon as she reads the title of it (she also proudly informs Jae that she’s gotten better at reading and Jae congratulates her). “Is it a movie?” she inquires. 

“It’s a song” Jae corrects her.

“I thought it was a movie” Daeun is frowning. She’s very much alike to Wonpil with that gesture. And they’re both very much alike to their mother.

The video finishes four minutes and twenty seven seconds later. Daeun claps because she says she liked the dance.

“He’s always using his computer when he’s not with you” she says before any of Jae or Wonpil can ask her something. The comment feels out of place, just like Wonpil’s. Jae raises a brow, "Wonpil-oppa is becoming boring! We barely play together anymore because he always says he has homework and doesn’t let me inside his room or because he’s using it” she points the computer.

Jae controls a laugh—Wonpil’s told him before about the homework excuse to practice them. 

“You should play with Daeun more often, Wonpil-ah” it’s what he answers. He doesn’t mention the obvious two reasons for that (being her brother, almost leaving for college…).

Wonpil groans, “I do play with Daeun, but I also try to write whenever I can” he justifies himself.

Jae frowns (and he’s aware the gesture is not similar on him just as it is on Daeun and Wonpil).

Wonpil also tries to practice with them whenever he can. It must be tiring—and Jae can really give his opinion on that topic; using them always gives him headaches, so he wonders how Wonpil feels after his long practice sessions he’s told Jae about on their phone calls. Though he had never really complained of it being too tiring…? Jae crosses that option. Wonpil would have told him about it if that was the case. He’s just overthinking it.

“Oppa, when are you gonna write something for me?” Daeun talks again. She’s already standing up. Her nose is wrinkling again.

Wonpil sighs. Jae feels like an intruder in their conversation.

“I have to finish something first—“

He means the superhero story, Jae guesses. Or maybe it’s all about his constant practice with them. Or maybe he’s referring to his other stories, the same ones Jae is aware he keeps in some folder in his laptop with a weird name so no one peak on it. Or is he talking about high school…? High school is also finishing soon for Wonpil. Or maybe summer….?

Daeun complains out loud. Jae is just quiet. He’s definitely overthinking it.

“DID YOU LEARN THE SONG?”

They’re on Jae’s room that afternoon. Nothing is too different from the last occasion they were there, only a few days ago. Wonpil is throwing pens again and Jae is working in another essay.

This time he’s sure what Wonpil is talking about.

“I only listened that day when we were with Daeun” Jae confesses. “So no, I didn’t.”

Wonpil is wearing the same shirt again. Jae already teased him about him doing the laundry during weekdays just to be able to use it today.

He throws the pen he’s holding towards Jae. The pen trembles as it stops for a second in the air before falling.

Jae wasn’t the one who did it.

“You should learn it, hyung” Wonpil says. He walks to pick up the pen, and just like last time, he ends up lying over the bed, right next to Jae. “It fits your voice.”

Jae huffs, “You say the same of every song.”

Wonpil giggles. He throws the pen up in the air again. This time he’d surely have been waiting for Jae to do something about it, as the pen simply falls down without any delay.

“We should practice more before you leave again” Wonpil hums. He turns in the bed and he’s now using one of his elbows to support his body. His head is resting over the palm of his hand. “And I know I say that about every song, I think I just like your voice a lot, hyung.”

Wonpil’s making him have two conversations again. But Jae, being too flustered because one of his comments, decides to follow the other for his own sake. 

He swallows, “We can do it tomorrow when I finish this.”

Wonpil tells him he loves him—a third time. After that, Jae can’t talk again.

JAE DOESN’T TALK THAT MUCH during the next trainings with Wonpil (Wonpil has become fonder of the use of that word rather than just ‘practices’. He says it fits the whole mood. Jae thinks he’s just up for any fuzzy brained idea recently, and that’s weird on him. That whole summer feels weird for Jae; he doesn’t know if it’s because the big load of homework he still has in queue to finish or Wonpil being too insistent for them to practice even if Jae has already told him about his theory of them fading away and him not caring about it, or Wonpil repeating a certain phrase that gets Jae to feel breathless—or maybe it’s just Jae who thinks that everything it’s strange. It must be that).

He doesn’t talk because Wonpil keeps telling him he loves him every time Jae makes an attempt to actually practice with them.

Jae really can’t find the words to speak when Wonpil does that (there’re too many words inside Wonpil’s head, right? Can’t he borrow some for Jae? Jae needs them urgently—Wonpil’s a good friend. He’d surely do it if Jae asks him).

Jae wonders if Wonpil has already noticed his reaction towards the phrase. 

Jae also wonders why Wonpil hasn’t still teased him about it. It must certainly be a funny scene to watch—Jae’s cheeks turning red and he being all quiet after Wonpil tells him he loves him.

But Wonpil isn’t laughing. He just asks Jae to keep trying before he goes and do the same.

WONPIL’S WEARING THE SAME SHIRT AGAIN—by that time, the drawing of the bathtub, along the letters mentioning the fairy of shampoo, has already started to fade away.

When Jae comments again how it’s his new favorite shirt, Wonpil doesn’t deny it.

“I’m on the fourth chapter” he informs him instead. He’s eating an apple and he’s not being so careful about it, leaving some traces of the juice fall over the corner of his mouth. “My main character doesn’t have a name still.”

Jae snorts, “I think you’d name him Jaehyung.”

“I told you it’s not about you!” Wonpil rolls his eyes.

“Blond, tall” Jae starts to enlist the characteristics he remembers, “has bad eyesight and powers. Who else could it be about?”

“He’s studying music” Wonpil points out. He isn’t looking at Jae when he says that, and like the other day, there’s hesitation in his voice, “You’re not, hyung. You’ve barely played your guitar since like a year ago. You don’t even like to sing anymore, not even when I ask you to do it for me.”

It feels like all those times Wonpil has told him he loves him—Jae feels the words in his throat disappear. He wishes he could be more like Wonpil.

“I’m not leaving it forever” he replies. “I’ve just been busy with my classes. That’s it.”

Wonpil bites his apple again before throwing it up his head. The apple falls but it doesn’t hit none of both. Judging by the grimace on Wonpil’s face, he should have been expecting Jae to do something about it. 

He seems to be expecting a lot for Jae to do something recently. Jae thinks that’s just strange. They haven’t really spoken about Jae quitting playing his guitar and composing after his parents told him he couldn’t study music in the university and should opt instead for what they called a real career. That was a big topic during Jae’s first year at college, when he would often call Wonpil on the evenings to complain about his boring classes and how much he hated them.

It’s been a year. Things can change a lot in a whole year. Jae had decided to actually give them a try, and it turned out that not everything is that terrible. Apparently, he only had to get used to it.

“I’m gonna be busy too, aren’t I?” Wonpil asks bitterly in a mumble, so Jae can barely hear it. Jae frowns, “When I start college, I’m gonna be busy too and I won’t write just like you don’t play your guitar anymore.”

Daeun enters to the kitchen before Jae can speak. She’s screaming loudly Wonpil’s name, but she stops when she notices that Jae is there too. Daeun blushes when she greets Jae.

Wonpil chuckles at the scene, his mood abruptly changing from the serious one of before. Jae finds himself awkwardly blushing too when Daeun asks him if he wants to stay and have dinner with them. Jae accepts her invitation and Wonpil chuckles once more. Wonpil mentioned just the day before something about Daeun having a crush on him, and now that Jae’s aware of that information, he can’t avoid but notice how attentive the little girl is with him.

That detail makes him forget about what he and Wonpil were talking about. He shouldn’t have forgotten. 

WONPIL SAYS HE PREFERS TO BE ON JAE’S ROOM rather than on his. Jae asks for the reason as soon as Wonpil pulls out the comment. 

“We used to spend a lot time here together” Wonpil says. He’s lying on Jae’s bed—he always does that at some point every time he’s there. But he isn’t staring at the ceiling as he would normally also do; no, his eyes are directed to the right corner next to the door of the room, where Jae guitar is. “But now the only times I’m here is because those are the only times you’re in the city too.”

Jae isn’t working on any essay that time. He’s simply lying next to Wonpil. 

He remembers Wonpil staring at him, some weeks ago, in the position he is now. 

“I like my room when you’re here with me” he tells him. Jae doesn’t really analyze his words until they’re out of his mouth and Wonpil is laughing. “Shit, I mean—you know exactly what I mean. I miss you too, Wonpil-ah.”

Wonpil grins. Jae can’t see it, but he knows he’s doing it so. “I miss you too, hyung. A lot.”

Wonpil tells him he also misses him playing the guitar and singing for him. When it’s obvious Jae won’t answer, Wonpil sighs, “I’m stuck with thid chapter. My main character needs a name for the band he’s forming and he also needs a very valid reason to be forming a band because I just came up with that idea.”

Jae doesn’t even have to try to smile for Wonpil, “What about Fairy of Shampoo? You said it was a good title.”

“For a song for you to compose.”

“How many times do I have to tell you that? I don’t compose anymore for now, Wonpil-ah. Not until I finish college.”

Wonpil sits on the bed. It’s an odd reaction. When they’re lying on Jae’s bed they usually only get up when it’s time to go to dinner or when they decide to do something else together, not because a simple comment.

Maybe Wonpil is already hungry, Jae thinks.

(Though they ate together at Wonpil’s house only like an hour ago…? Jae is still full after that).

Wonpil is glaring at Jae. He seems upset. “You don’t compose, you don’t play your guitar, you don’t like to train our powers… Is there something you even still like from before you went to college?”

Jae blinks at that. The first thing that comes to his mind to answer is: “The storm happened a month ago. I was already on college, so you shouldn’t include it on the list.”

Wonpil snorts, standing from the bed. “Don’t you want to become a superhero, hyung? Or a musician? Do you really want to spend the rest of your life working in an office?”

Jae only sits down with his legs crossed. “Why are you so pressed over that, Wonpil-ah? It’s summer. You said it yourself: we shouldn’t be talking about sad things.”

“You also said I could be sad whenever I want!”

Jae frowns, “Are you sad about that? I told you I was over it when I came for Christmas.”

Wonpil presses his lips together. The room suddenly feels too warm, even for summer. “That was almost a year ago” he mumbles.

Jae nods, “Yeah, I know.”

But Wonpil’s doe eyes aren’t over him anymore. He’s staring to the fan on the ceiling instead. Jae wonders if he’s trying to make it stop right now like they have done before.

“It took you only a year” Wonpil keeps mumbling. “And you got tired about practicing our powers a month later.”

Jae doesn’t understand the relation between those two points. Is Wonpil telling Jae that he just gets bored with things easily?

“I’ve got to go” Wonpil mutters after some seconds. “I promised Daeun I’d play with her today too.”

He leaves without saying goodbye or giving Jae the chance to do it. It’s strange—this summer, Wonpil, Jae’s thoughts about Wonpil… Everything is strange. 

The fan on the ceiling doesn’t stop moving, not even when Jae squints at it and wishes with all his might for it to do it so.

WONPIL CALLS HIM TO SAY HE’S SORRY. Jae tells him there’s nothing to be sorry about.

They stay awake talking to the other on the phone until it’s so early in the morning that Jae falls asleep with Wonpil telling him something about the chapter he’s currently working on. 

When Jae wakes up, some hours later, he’s sweating. The fan above his bed isn’t moving.

Someone calls his name on the first floor—it’s his mom. She’s telling him that Wonpil is there to see him. 

WONPIL IS SINGING THE SONG—they’re at his house, and Daeun is with them, showing Jae her new dolls, and Wonpil is singing the song while he helps his mom setting the table.

“It’s a pretty song” Wonpil’s mom says at some point. “Is it from Jae?”

Wonpil glances at Jae since his spot next to the dining table. Jae is also looking at him.

Daeun is telling Jae the name of her doll. Jae stops seeing Wonpil to nod at that.

He pretends he doesn’t listen when Wonpil explains his mom that Jae is not interested in music anymore.

IT’S RAINING.

Jae had told Wonpil he would prefer staying inside that day, as it’s his last week of vacations and he’d have to return to the campus on Friday, so he’s certainly not into catching a cold for playing in the rain. But Wonpil had then called it their last day for training together and had somehow convinced Jae to think that was a good argument to agree with him.

So they’re training outside, under the rain. And they’re at Jae’s house because of that detail. His parents and his sister are out for at least a couple of more hours, so there’s no one to complain about why are they outside when it’s raining, throwing each other a small ball that Jae’s sure belonged to one of Wonpil’s dogs before. If Wonpil’s mom saw them, they’d both be grounded (even Jae, who is not her son and almost twenty years old).

“You should take your glasses off” Wonpil suddenly says. “They’re so wet.” 

They were talking about the possibility of making raindrops stop before they hit the ground, having forgotten about the ball as soon as they both discovered they couldn’t stop it once. Jae wasn’t a bit surprised for his lack of talent, but Wonpil’s failed attempts were quite a bitter discovery. Did that mean Jae’s theory was true and they were finally fading away for Wonpil too?

When he tried to mention it, Wonpil had told him he hadn’t slept well and was just tired. It made sense for Jae.

Jae shrugs. He’s standing under the roof near the door that leads to the kitchen, so at least he’s not getting more soaked. “I won’t see better without them” there’s a thunder, and Jae notices the lighting coming on the sky some seconds later. The rain is becoming heavier also. “Wonpil-ah, I think it’s better if we leave it right now and go and change our clothes. We’re gonna get sick.”

But Wonpil isn’t listening to him, “I’ll clean them for you!” he exclaims.

“Wonpil-ah…”

But Wonpil is quickly closer to him, and even with all the raindrops that intrude his glasses, Jae can say he’s squinting at him. Oh, so he’s trying to do it using them.

Jae stays still, imagining that it would to be done quickly and that then they could go inside and rest. They’re just raindrops after all, Wonpil can handle that. 

He waits, focusing on Wonpil’s eyes that look at him with intensity. Nothing changes.

“Wonpil-ah” Jae repeats because he’s feeling cold and he doesn’t know why Wonpil is taking so long if they’re simply raindrops. “Can we—?”

He stops midsentence. Wonpil was quick enough to cover his nose and his glasses might be covered with raindrops, but Jae still saw it anyways, and he’s angry.

Jae grabs Wonpil’s free hand and takes him inside the kitchen no matter if he’s squealing and complaining. He doesn’t care either about the trace of water they’re leaving behind them and he only stops pulling Wonpil by his hand when Wonpil whines something about taking their shoes off.

He shoves a napkin on Wonpil’s chest once he’s done putting his shoes next to the door. 

“This is the first time, right?” Jae questions him, leaving his glasses over the counter. Wonpil doesn’t answer. “Wonpil, this is the first time this happens, right?” he repeats. Wonpil’s still not saying anything. Jae feels desperate, why isn’t he talking? Jae’s worried about him! “When I asked you if you got a headache or a nosebleed using them before, you told me it had never happened to you. Was that true?”

Slowly, Wonpil bops his head. 

“Fuck” Jae sighs, passing a hand from his forehead to his chin in an attempt to calm down. “Okay, you have to stop using them. I did the same and I haven’t got a nosebleed since…”

“I’m not doing that!” Wonpil interrupts him abruptly. Jae would think his voice sounded funny for having a piece of napkin in his nose holes if it wasn’t for the fact that his funny voice was caused for a nosebleed. “It’s the first time it happens to me, and just because you decided to give up it doesn’t mean I have to do the same! I’m not you, hyung!"

Of course he’s not Jae. That’s too obvious—Wonpil thinks on himself as some sort of amateur superhero, Wonpil likes to write stories, Wonpil prefers to have conversations about multiple topics than rather the simple one, Wonpil can talk about anything with much more ease than anyone that Jae has ever known; Wonpil is clearly not Jae, so that information doesn’t take him aback.

“This is hurting you now, Wonpil-ah” Jae insists. Wonpil shakes his head, and Jae ignores the gesture because he’s not allowing that to be repeated, “You don’t even need them, don’t you see? You’re not really saving someone’s life with them, you’re just playing, so that means you can stop with this right now before you get hurt again!”

“I don’t want to stop!” Wonpil replies back. He’s on the other side of the kitchen, so Jae doesn’t know if he imagines the tears on his cheeks. There are probably raindrops from before. “I know I can get better at that, hyung. I know I can finally be good at something!”

Jae frowns, confused at that, “What are you talking about? You’re already good at lot of stuff. I’ve read what you write” he says the first thing that comes to his mind to prove it, “and you’re really good at it.”

Wonpil snorts, “But I won’t have time to do it anymore just like you didn’t have time to play the guitar or compose after your first year. I won’t have time to do anything I like just like you! That’s why I have to keep training with them before college! That's why I shouldn't stop!”

There’s another thunder and then in a flick the lights are gone. Jae doesn’t move from where he is. He left his phone in his bedroom, and he doesn’t remember where his mom keeps the candles for this kind of situations.

But he can hear a sniffle.

Wonpil is crying.

“Wonpil-ah” Jae calls him. Why does he suddenly feels a knot in his throat and words get stuck on his mouth? Wonpil isn’t telling him he loves him. Jae does his best to formulate a coherent sentence: “You just said it. You’re not me. You don’t have to do the same thing as I and stop writing.”

Wonpil is still crying. Jae tries walking towards him. They’re at his kitchen, after all. Jae’s been there more than a thousand times, it should be easy.

He gives two steps to what he thinks is Wonpil’s direction. 

“You’re stronger than me!” Jae continues saying. “You’ve always been! You can talk with people so easily and you’re never scared to say how you feel. But you…” he doubts some seconds whether to say it or not. “You’ve been keeping some things for yourself lately, right?”

There’s another sniffle as an only answer. 

“You don’t have to tell me everything, Wonpil-ah” Jae gives two more steps. “If there’s something you want to keep it just for you, it’s okay. I respect that because it’s your privacy.”

More silence. Jae moves again. There’s a splash caused by the movement and Jae feels his legs being splattered with water. That must mean he’s gotten enough close to the trace of water they left when they entered to the kitchen, so he’s near the door and where Wonpil was standing before the lights went off.

“You’ve been doing the same!” Wonpil suddenly decides to speak. Jae’s close to him—his voice is really close. “You just… You just stopped talking about your songs one day! And you didn’t even take your guitar with you on the last holidays!”

Jae gulps, giving another step, “I told you I was over it.”

“Over about you having to study a career you didn’t want to!” Wonpil accuses him. For the volume of his voice, Jae’s aware he’s too close to him now; he would probably be able to touch him if he raises a hand. But Jae doesn’t move. “You stopped complaining, but you also stopped doing the rest! Just like if you had never done it before! And you want to do the same with our powers now! You want me to forget about them like you did with the rest!”

“What are you talking about?” Jae asks quietly. “I’ve just been busy, I haven’t forgotten about anything.”

“Then you’re trying too” Wonpil’s voice is also quiet.

“I’m not—“ Jae is unable to finish the sentence. He thinks on Wonpil mentioning the topic before, on how glad he had felt when he hadn’t had to follow the conversation or how Jae had preferred to not answer his questions related to it. He was over it; he had already made up the idea that he’d restart composing when he was finally done with school. But deep down, hasn’t Jae always known that was a little impossible? After college, it’d come work. And his parents have told him before how music is not a real job. Trying to ignore it had been simpler for Jae to do it—it would eventually fade away like them, right? If he only ignored it a little more… He swallows, “Me doing it doesn’t mean you should do the same, Wonpil-ah” and he means it this time. He’s been trying to forget, but he doesn’t want Wonpil to stop writing.

He hears Wonpil’s cries becoming louder. 

“Think on that as your real superpower” Jae says because Wonpil isn’t speaking again, and because if he doesn’t say it right now he’d probably have those words stuck in his head forever (he’s not like Wonpil after all. He simply has words in there and they never move), “You’re gonna be able to go to college and write. You… Waking up one morning and suddenly being able to move things with your mind isn’t a superpower. It’s just a weird skill that apparently some of us can have after a storm, but that’s not the only thing you’re good at, Wonpil-ah. You’re good at writing, at keeping two conversations at the same time, you’re good at expressing your feelings, you’re a good brother, a good son, a good friend… You don’t need a superpower to be better, but if you want one so bad, then that’s gonna be yours: you’re gonna go to college and you’re gonna finish all the stories that you want.”

The short dry laugh that comes from Wonpil surprises Jae. 

“That’s not a real superpower, hyung” he says. His voice doesn’t sound weird anymore, which means he’s taken the napkin from his nose holes. Jae hopes the bleeding stopped.  
Jae is moving. Wonpil isn’t. They’re so close from the other…

“Umh, it is?” Jae replies back. “What is even throwing pens and stopping them before falling compared to being Kim Wonpil?”

Wonpil chuckles again. It’s not a real laugh, though, but it’s better than the tears, “If that’s my superpower, then what’s yours?”

He is moving. Jae isn’t. Somehow, Wonpil finds his hand. He’s holding it.

“Hyung?” Wonpil asks because Jae isn’t answering.

The lights are back. Wonpil is seeing him; Jae already imagined that, so as soon as he can confirm that, Jae decides to glance to other side instead.

There’s a fan in the kitchen’s ceiling, bigger than the one at Jae’s room. Jae remembers it was working before they went out to the garden to practice, and now with the energy back, it should start working too. 

It doesn’t.

THEY BOTH HAVE A MISSING CALL FROM WONPIL’S MOTHER—Wonpil tells Jae he’d call her as she’s probably worried about how they are, considering that the energy must have went off in his house too. Jae simply nods and goes to take a shower to his parent’s bathroom. He tells Wonpil he can do the same in the bathroom that it’s on his room.

Jae is especially slow since the part of taking his clothes off and later putting some dry on. He isn’t sure why he’s so nervous about having to see Wonpil again after what happened in the kitchen. It’s probably the fact that he knows they have to speak about it, because there’re still many things Jae guesses they have to tell the other. And he wants for them to speak; they need to, but also, Jae’s not exactly sure what he wants to tell Wonpil other than what he already did—Wonpil doesn’t need those stupid powers to be aware how good person he is (yes, Jae is calling them powers now. He couldn’t care less about the detail right now). 

Jae wishes they had never had them in first instant. 

When he returns to his room, Wonpil is already changed into some of Jae’s clothes and he’s typing something on his phone as he sits on Jae’s bed. He puts it down as soon as he sees Jae.

“Can I stay here until the rain stops?” Wonpil asks him. 

Jae shrugs. Wonpil probably already told his mom that he’s staying with Jae for the night anyways. They do that a lot, so it’s almost normal, “You can stay here as long as you want, Wonpil-ah.”

He goes and lies over the bed. Wonpil imitates his posture.

Their shoulders are touching.

Jae closes his eyes un an attempt to ignore the warmness. 

“It has happened before, hyung” Wonpil says out of the blue. Jae opens his eyes at that—they’re talking about it again. He’s glad Wonpil was the one who started the conversation. He doesn’t know how he would have done it if Wonpil hadn’t decided to begin, “The nosebleed. It’s not the first time, I lied.”

Jae sits down so he can glare at Wonpil properly. “How many times?”

Wonpil smiles. It’s a sad smile, though. 

“That weekend when you were here it was so easy to use them” he begins explaining. “I mean, you had some troubles and there was the incident of your nose that time, but it was so easy for us and I was proud of that! I was so proud of me" his smile turns sadder, "But then you left, and you called me to tell me that you’ve moved your roommate’s stuff because you didn’t control it and I couldn’t avoid to think that I was better than you at that because I didn’t have the same issues. I was doing it perfectly, hyung!”

Jae nods, slowly. He remembers Wonpil’s calls explaining him excitedly about it.

“But then it all just… Stopped working?” Wonpil wrinkles his nose. It reminds Jae to Daeun. “It suddenly became so difficult for me, and when I asked you about it you told me you weren’t trying anymore because of the headaches. I was having headaches then too, and I guess I could have stopped, but I really didn’t want to. I’m not sure if I want to.”

“So you didn’t stop” Jae reasons. 

Wonpil also sits down. They’re facing the other right now. “I got my first nosebleed when I tried closing the door of my room one day. I’ve done it before, but before I knew it my nose was bleeding. I screamed and scared Daeun. When I told my mom I was just watching a video and got surprised by something, she nagged me because Daeun had been sleeping and she was now crying. I felt bad” he puts his lips together in a line. “But I told myself that it could be a thing of just one time, like you told me, so I didn’t stop. My nose didn’t stop bleeding either. That’s when I tried the paper clips, and when it worked, I understood I had to make some baby steps before running again” Wonpil beams up. “My mom uses that phrase a lot” but the beaming is quickly replaced by a grimace, “My powers are still not working the same way, anyways. No matter how hard I keep trying. They’re just… Like if they’re disappearing like you said” Wonpil sighs. “I’m only telling you this because I know you’re worried.”

“You were hurting yourself” Jae does his best for his words to not sound as upset as he feels right now. “I lied too” he decides he should say too. Wonpil’s being honest and Jae owes him the same. Wopil's eyes open in surprise, “I got other nosebleeds too, at my dorm when I tried using them. But I didn’t lie when I told you that I stopped trying to do it. I simply didn’t mention the nosebleeds because you were scared when it happened in front of you.”

“Oh” Wonpil mumbles. “You were hurting yourself too, hyung.”

Jae doesn’t answer immediately.

“I was” he agrees. “That was bad on me.”

“But—“ Wonpil is frowning, “it made you feel awesome, right? Having those powers was so cool.”

“It was at the beginning” Jae admits. “Then they became a literal headache.”

Wonpil shows him a sympathetic smile. 

“Maybe I’m just rambling now, but when I started gotten worse at it I thought that I was ruining something again, just like everything I ever started to write” he says. Jae is confused for the relation of the topics. “I have all those stories but I’ve barely ended two, and I’m going to college soon! If I’m not able to finish them right now that I have plenty of time, I couldn’t imagine how it’d be once I started it” Jae opens to mouth to refuse that, but Wonpil hushes him. “I’m not stupid, hyung. I know college is different from high school, and that the responsibilities are bigger. Just think on yourself! You don’t play your guitar anymore because you’re always busy. Soojin-noona also said the same when she started it” Soojin is Jae’s older sister. Wonpil is right. She complained a lot during her college days. “You’re always busy” Wonpil emphasizes. “Just like Soojin-noona was.”

“I’m not always busy” Jae huffs. It’s easy to reply to Wonpil that, “Not when it comes to you, Wonpil-ah.”

Wonpil rolls his eyes. It’s almost like if they’re having a normal conversation now, not discussing all the problems they’ve been hiding from the other, “You’re busy to do the things that you like then.”

“I like talking to you a lot.”

“You know what I’m talking about!” Wonpil whines. “I didn’t want myself to be the same. I don’t want too.”

For the first time since he entered to the room, Jae is able to smile. “I already told you that’s your real superpower, Wonpil-ah.”

Wonpil smiles back at him, “I guess that’s the only one I’m gonna have when my other powers fade like you think yours are doing. I’m getting worse at that, you noticed?” Jae nods. “But it’s okay, I think” his nose is wrinkling again. “I’m gonna say it’s okay for tonight, at least. I don’t want to cry again.”

They both decide they should go to sleep after that. The lights are turned off and just like in the kitchen, Jae can’t see Wonpil because of the dark, but he knows he isn’t trying to get asleep.

“You didn’t answer my question” Wonpil says before Jae can comment about him not sleeping. “You didn’t tell me which one is your real superpower if moving things with your mind doesn’t count as one.” 

Jae frowns. He thinks on telling him about how well he knows him; of how he can easily say when he’s smiling without having to see him.

But he also thinks and how worried Wonpil had been and how he hadn’t notice it. 

“Being a good friend” he decides to say instead. 

“That’s not it” Wonpil is probably frowning in that moment too. “You gave me a cool superpower, so you’re having a cool one too.”

“Being your friend is a cool superpower.”

“But it can be better! Better like…” he can almost imagine it, Wonpil squinting at him with concentration. “Like being able to compose your songs and going to your classes at the same time!”

Jae doesn’t answer. He is not like Wonpil at all—he’s bad in everything Wonpil’s good at. He doesn’t…

“Hyung?” Wonpil has to ask. He probably thinks Jae would ignore him like he did in the kitchen, “You don’t think that’s a cool superpower? It’s similar to mine, just like the ones we got after the storm.”

“You were good at that when you really tried, remember? On your first days” Wonpil keeps saying. Jae scoffs, trying to hide the fact that he’s now crying. Wasn’t he the one supposed to comfort Wonpil? Isn’t Wonpil the one who’s worried about college and losing his powers? Jae doesn't care about them; Jae... He's over about that topic! “You had your guitar with you at your dorm and you told me about how your roommate also knew how to play the guitar, so he was really nice with you playing it even if it was too late because you only had time to focus on it when you were done with your assignments” Wonpil takes a deep breath. “You’re really good at lot of things when you really try, you just don’t give yourself enough credit either. I think you should do that more often too.”

Jae feels his mouth dry despite how wet his cheeks are suddenly.

“Maybe I should” it’s what he manages to mumble. 

“Then that’s gonna be your superpower!” Wonpil claims. He sounds almost genuinely excited. He must know Jae is crying. “You’re gonna be a super musician and a great lawyer at the same time!”

The combination is strange when Wonpil says it out loud. That summer is really strange, Jae decides. But so are Jae and Wonpil and… Everything. Jae’s not sure how he should feel about it, though he’s crying right now.

“If we just discovered our powers” he begins saying because once again the words are there and he isn’t sure if he would ever get them back if he ignores them. Jae feels Wonpil’s eyes over him even on the dark, “does that turn us into amateur superheroes?”

Wonpil doesn’t chuckle as Jae was expecting for him to do. He only holds his hand like he did in the kitchen instead. It’s warm. 

JAE WAKES UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. Wonpil is sleeping next to him and he’s snorting.

Wonpil is also hugging Jae. He feels Wonpil’s head over his chest and his arm over his waist. 

It feels strange having Wonpil hugging him in that moment despite that’s not the first time it happens—but it’s a strange summer, after all. 

It’s still raining outside.

Jae doesn’t remember falling asleep. He wonders if he was still crying when he did; he was doing it while he and Wonpil were talking about Daeun and her little crush on Jae as they decided to have a lighted tone conversation.

Jae goes back to sleep. Before closing his eyes, he makes sure to also hug Wonpil back.

THEY DON’T TALK ABOUT IT THE NEXT DAY—they discover they don’t need to do it. As soon as Jae is awake, Wonpil is telling him about the antagonist of his story, and how not-officially-named main character Jaehyung had met him accidentally on a rainy day.

When Jae’s mom calls them to have breakfast, they pretend they’re both asleep only to have the chance to continue talking.

Or well… Wonpil is the one that does all the talking, and Jae is simply more of throwing questions and nodding. And it’s fine like that; Wonpil’s have always been better with words and Jae thinks that similar to what Wonpil had told him before, he just likes Wonpil’s voice a lot. 

JAE’S PACKING HIS THINGS BECAUSE HE’S LEAVING TOMORROW. Wonpil is there at his room with the excuse that he’d help him, but he’s simply playing with one of Jae’s pens that he surely took from his desk.

He had only tried to stop it once, though. After that, he limited himself to tap Jae’s comforter imitating the beat of a song he’s been humming for days and that reminds Jae of a certain shirt that Wonpil hasn't worn anymore (he said he lost it, but Jae thinks that's bullshit). When Jae asked for the reason of his abrupt change, Wonpil answered in a shrug that his head had started to ache and he was being careful about it now. 

“I’m still not quitting” he also clarified. “I like having them and I think I’m gonna enjoy them the most I can before they fade away.”

Wonpil promising he’d be careful was enough for Jae to feel calmer about the topic. It was his decision, after all. And Wonpil had always been stronger than Jae anyways.

When Jae is done and his suitcase it already ready next to the door, they both decide to lie over Jae’s bed. 

Jae doesn’t want to leave tomorrow. He wants to stay there with Wonpil forever until he isn’t upset anymore about college and writing and his powers. He wants to hug him like he easily does when they're sleeping. He wants to tells him he loves him as much as Wonpil expresses he loves him.

The fan moving is the only noise they can hear before Jae—quiet and bad with words Jae Park, says: 

“Not being able to finish something it’s okay, Wonpil-ah” he begins saying. They might have not directly spoken about the topic after that night, and though things are clearer between them and it’s obvious Wonpil feels more at ease than before, Jae knew he was still missing a part of it. He didn’t know how important it was, though, but he continues talking anyways: “It’s not the end of the world” he swallows, “It also happened to me with some songs. I’ve told you about that, haven’t I?” he’s aware Wonpil’s is seeing him with attention. Jae is talking about composing and music this time, without Wonpil having to push the topic. It's strange. A strange change for a strange summer, it fits it. “I don’t know if it’s a universal rule, but sometimes you can simply finish something and that’s okay because that doesn’t mean we won’t be able to finish something else. Sometimes you just have to take a breath of it—it’s really not the end of the world.”

Wonpil sighs, “It feels like it, hyung.”

Is he talking about their powers and how they’re disappearing? Is he talking about his stories? Is he talking about summer?

Jae sighs too, “I know.”

“I hate that feeling.”

That’s probably the first time that Jae moves so he can also face Wonpil. They’re really close now, and even if Jae isn’t wearing his glasses, he can easily say that Wonpil is trying not to cry so bad.

“I hate it too, Wonpil-ah” he mumbles. “You’re right about it. College isn’t that easy, but it’s not the end of the world either. You just need to be organized, I think. You’ll do well if you do that.”

“Do you do it too, hyung?” Wonpil wonders. “Are you organized so you can have time to compose?”

“Yeah” Jae admits. “I mean, not exactly because of that…” He doesn’t notice he’s crying until Wonpil’s hand is caressing his cheek to get rid of the tears. Why is he even crying? It’s strange—so strange. “But it’s different with me, remember? I guess I really convinced myself I was over it, so I haven’t really tried since my first year.”

Wonpil is looking him at the eyes, “You should try again if you want to, hyung. You said it yourself. Sometimes it’s all about taking a breath, but it’s not the end of the world, right?”

Jae is the one who searches for Wonpil’s hand this time. It’s warm; Wonpil’s hand is always warm.

He smiles. Wonpil is also smiling. “Yeah, it’s not.”


	2. you'll never meet the fairy of shampoo if you keep closing your eyes

“I HAVE A WRITER’S BLOCK.”

Jae is in his dorm. It’s late, but luckily, Sungjin, his roommate, is still awake, so that means there’s no sense in trying to be quiet as he talks to Wonpil on the phone.

“What do you usually do when that happens?” Jae asks him.

There’s a humming in the line, “I try to distract myself. That’s why I’m calling you.”

“Should I feel used then?” Jae raises a brow at that. Sungjin, who is watching the whole interaction from his bed, shakes his head.

Disgusting, he tells him just moving his lips. 

Jae ignores that.

“I also wanted to talk to you!” Wonpil replies. “I miss you a lot, hyung!”

“I miss you too” Jae mumbles, wishing for Sungjin not to listen to him, but his roommate is now laughing. Wonpil asks about the sudden noise, and Jae decides to change the course of the conversation because he’s blushing: “Tell me about the story you’re writing this time. How’re things going for fictional Jaehyung?”

“That wasn’t you!” Wonpil exclaims. “And actually, I stopped writing that for now. It’s not that I’m not finishing it!” he quickly adds, “I’m finishing this one. It’s not a sad story, so I can write it during summer. But Daeun told mom that I promised I would write something for her, so I’m working on that for now.”

“A tale?” Jae’s genuinely interested. He can’t imagine Wonpil willingly writing a children tale—the stories he would tell Jae to fall asleep when they were younger were always too tragic for eight year old Jae. “What’s about?”

“It’s silly” Wonpil chuckles on the line. “Two friends discover the fairy of shampoo that fills up the shampoo’s dispenser in the bathroom” just by listening to the name of the song, Jae has vivid memories of some days ago. He can almost listen to it right now; the melody… It’s like if once again he and Wonpil are on his room, and Wonpil is singing it as they both lay on Jae’s bed and look at the fan that is moving. “One of them is blond and tall, and the other one has dark hair and is a little shorter, but just a little.”

No, they are not looking at the fan. They’re looking at each other. 

Jae smiles. He hopes Wonpil is smiling too. “That’s—“

“It’s horrible, I know” Wonpil groans. His voice is a little bit lower sounded, which means he moved the phone away for that. “Daeun hated it when I told her about it” he’s back again speaking at a normal volume. “I’m still thinking on something better.”

“But you have a writer’s block” Jae reasons.

“Exactly” he can almost picture Wonpil nodding. “That’s why I’m calling you. I didn’t interrupt anything, right?”

Jae glances at Sungjin, who is far too busy on his own phone like to pay attention to Jae now.

“Sungjin was just telling me about the boy he met today and how he already likes him” Jae decides to say. But Sungjin is obviously a better multitasker that Jae himself, and he throws the only pillow of his bed to Jae’s direction. Jae doesn’t think on how he could have easily avoided it before without the need of having to move on the bed like he actually did, “He says hi, by the way.”

Sungjin does tell Jae something—it isn’t a friendly ‘hi’, though. It’s far from friendly. But Wonpil doesn’t need to know that.

Wonpil answers he also sends his greetings to Sungjin. After that, they’re both quiet. 

It’s been more than a week, but summer isn’t over yet, so Jae guesses that’s why he suddenly feels so strange—because his summer has been strange, because Jae himself is strange, and Wonpil and… Everything.

Jae wonders if the feeling would ever fade away.

“Do you want me to sing for you?” he suddenly blurts out. He’s not sure of why he did that. Jae simply knew the words were there and he has decided to say them more often than simply keeping them inside.

Wonpil replies after a few seconds, “Hyung, but I thought you didn’t like to sing anymore?” it’s more a question that a proper statement. 

Jae lies on his bed. He’s facing the wall to avoid seeing Sungjin.

“I said I had been busy, not that I didn't like it" Jae corrects him. "I’m practicing my superpower right now, Wonpil-ah! The other one besides being a good friend.”

There’s a short nervous chuckle. “Okay, which song are you singing for me?”

Wonpil isn’t even hiding how excited he is. 

Jae doesn’t tell him the title of it. He simply starts singing. He doesn’t know the lyrics yet, but he tries to remember the best he can from the times Wonpil would sing it. 

When he’s done, even though Jae’s sure he made up more than half of the song; Wonpil is telling him he loved it and how much he loves him.

Jae is still too flustered like to reply, so they hang up after that. Jae doesn’t move from his position, staring at the wall, until Sungjin speaks up.

“I haven’t heard you sing since our first year” his roommate comments. Jae turns back to see him, “when you brought your guitar and everything.”

Jae doesn’t frown at that. He already knew it, “Wonpil says he likes my voice” he tells him instead. 

Sungjin grins, but that’s probably because Jae was already doing that too.

“And what about that whole superpower thing?” Sungjin keeps speaking, returning his attention to his phone. “No offense, but it was a bit awkward.”

Jae laughs. “Oh, that. We’re kind of amateur superheroes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here are a few things that probably need to be clarified:
> 
> -yes, jae and wonpil have a crush on the other. there are hints there and in my opinion they're both aware of the feelings of the other. this just wasn't a story to show that, but to show instead the insecurities about moving to adulthood and leaving some things we love behind because of that. i hoped that was understandable? 
> 
> -the title of the story is simply due the fact that i was listening to fairy of shampoo by txt while i was working on this. i thought in changing it to something else when i finished writing the story, but i discovered myself singing it and then thinking on these jae and wonpil and realize that as me, every time jae and wonpil from his story listened to fairy of shampoo it would be a reminder of what happened that summer, so i consider it somewhat symbolic


End file.
